


everythingoes

by alondra (alaundry)



Series: ichor universe [3]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Angel Family, Angel/Human Relationships, Fallen Angel, Found Family, M/M, Non-Linear Narrative, Original Character(s), Tarot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-04
Updated: 2021-02-04
Packaged: 2021-03-16 06:41:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29203050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alaundry/pseuds/alondra
Summary: jongyul indulges in human pleasures.
Series: ichor universe [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2144103





	everythingoes

“Humans really… do this?”

“Yeah! I mean… I don’t really believe in it, myself, but it’s… kind of a fun, little outing to indulge in sometimes, no?”

“I suppose.”

Leaves crunched beneath Jongyul’s boots, careful steps evident in his slow pace. After a few more moments of walking along quietly, Ruby turned his head to watch him. He didn’t quite understand how anyone could pass by such a holy man and not sense something angelic possessing him. He carried himself perhaps not with his legs, but with invisible wings sprouting from his scarred back.

“Have we arrived?”

His voice jolted Ruby back into reality. Jongyul’s bony index finger was pointing at a tent in front of them. Though his blind eyes were glazed with a milky film, it was obvious he was able to make out a few shapes with…

Ruby’s thoughts trailed.  _ Not ease. He’s squinting. _

“Yeah! We’re here. I promise she’s really nice. Whenever you want to leave, just let me know. I’m sure she’ll charge us less, or something.”

Silently, Jongyul reached out to clutch Ruby’s fingers between his, waiting for him to lead them inside. The smaller male’s skin was white-hot to the touch, and clammy. He cursed mentally.

They’d been room-mates for close to a year now, and still, whenever they touched, Ruby melted into a mess.

The inside of the tent was lit by the soft glow of candles littered around the floor, and there were exactly three chairs in total: one behind the main table in the center, one in front, and one beside the entrance, in the corner. Sitting behind the desk was Ruby’s older sister Guinevere, with cascading dark hair tied back into a ponytail and gold eyes watching them like a hawk.

She clicked her tongue, and Jongyul visibly flinched. The sound seemed to echo and rattle through his body, but Ruby could just tilt his head in confusion. They just stood there for a few straight minutes, before Guinevere patted the surface in front of her.

“Sit.”

Ruby took a step forward, but she lifted a finger and tutted again. “No, him.”

Jongyul stiffened, knowing two pairs of eyes were on him (and possibly more). 

“Hey,” Ruby whispered, gently patting his arm. “It’s okay, I can help you sit. Or… we can leave, if you want, you know. We can get a couple of lattes or something down the street—”

He cleared his throat and lifted a palm to interrupt him. “It’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”

Jongyul stepped forward and, after practically battling with the chair, he rested atop it. His back was so straight and upright that it didn’t even begin to touch the back of his seat. His hands were neatly folded over his lap, but his knee was vibrating.

“What’s got you so on edge, stranger?” Guinevere asked, tantalization dripping from her lips like honey as she began shuffling her tarot deck. Ruby resisted the urge to roll his eyes. She was like this with all of his friends she met for the first time: flirty, teasing, and absolutely embarrassing. 

Especially when she could tell that he had feelings for them.

“I wasn’t expecting to have  _ my  _ palm read, today,” Jongyul explained, in a voice much quieter than his usual tone. He was clearly not about to start any conversations, shuffling uncomfortably in his seat. 

Guinevere threw her head back and cackled, sounding like a witch straight out of a Halloween special. She chuckled out a soft, “I see. Well, lucky for you, I actually don’t have to touch you to do this reading.”

Ruby watched as his roommate’s shoulders obviously deflated, probably out of relief. Guinevere cut her deck in two, then held the halves out to the semi-angel sitting across from her. “Pick. Left or right?”

Jongyul reached out. He got his hands on the deck on the left, causing Guinevere to smile and shuffle this half of the deck a few more times. She arched an eyebrow at Jongyul’s eyes, just kind of staring at her hands.

“What’s wrong?”

Silence.

“... Hello? It’s Jongyul, right? What’s up with my hands? You like my rings or something?” 

“I can’t see the rings,” he deadpanned, lifting his gaze to what he believed to be her eyes. It was her nose.

Guinevere stopped shuffling the cards and glanced at Ruby. He had scooted his chair closer, protectively, and was now at Jongyul’s side. He gestured to his own eyes, waving in front of them a couple of times.  _ He’s blind,  _ Ruby mouthed.

“What happened?”

Silence, again.

“... Alright. We’re going to do a six card spread for you, today. Three cards focused on your past, and three on your present. They’re all meant to give you something to meditate on, for your future, which I hope is bright and sunny and filled with rainbows and ice cream.”

“Gwen.”

“What? I’m being serious. Did you want to shuffle the cards yourself a couple times, Yully?”

Jongyul’s brows furrowed at the strange nickname. He scoffed, leaning back slightly in his seat. He reached to his side, feeling around for Ruby’s hand before clutching it loosely. It seemed to be a source of comfort for his calloused palms, and Ruby was not about to complain. 

“Uh… No, thank you.”

“Suit yourself.” Guinevere finished randomizing the little cards before spreading them face-down on the table. She propped her chin up with her elbows on the surface. “This actually works better, you know. Now I can be sure you’re not cheating and looking at the faces. Ruby tends to do that because he really wants to get  _ the lovers _ . Of course, he never does.”

He rolled his eyes and felt his round, freckled cheeks become lukewarm.

Jongyul reluctantly patted his left hand around, and slid six cards out of their spots beside the others. Guinevere excitedly put the rest of the cards back into their deck, focusing on his choices. She randomly sorted them into groups of three, and began to flip the first half over. 

“ _ Eight of cups, ten of swords,  _ and…”

“Woah! You got  _ the lovers _ , Jongyul!” Ruby exclaimed, seeing the last card flipped around. He started to laugh, and watched with a happy sway as Jongyul himself smiled one of those rare yet charming grins, shaking his head. Somehow, he only smiled like that when Ruby laughed.

Guinevere leaned forward, keeping her fingers on the three cards and inhaling deeply. She began to speak, as if reciting from a Bible: “The  _ eight of cups _ , and you have it upright. In your past, something happened to drive you out of your home, or a place you really cared about. You had to escape if you were to survive, whether that’s physical or emotional. You felt abandoned by those that were supposed to have cared for you, yet you escaped of your own volition. You turned your back, and this haunts you today. You’re still… running from something, aren’t you?”

Jongyul’s smile had disappeared and been replaced with a genuinely confused glare, tinged with anger. “ _ What _ ? You have no clue what you’re talking about.” His head turned sharply to face Ruby. “Did you talk to her before we came?”

“Huh? N-No, I didn’t tell her anything, I promise!”

Jongyul huffed and stared at Guinevere, right between her eyes. He looked deadly. “There’s no way you didn’t know that before.”

“Just let me keep going. A lot of people don’t believe in these, but I promise, they can help you out a lot for your future.”

Reluctantly, he looked away, silently prompting her to continue.

“ _ Ten of swords.  _ A painful, yet unavoidable end. From what I can feel from the cards and your aura, you lost something, but I’m willing to bet money it was some _ one _ . It was something that you feel like you should have seen coming, something that tore you apart. It left you scarred and broken, and wondering if you could have something like this ever again. You were grieving, and yet, you still are. You were a victim of a torturous experience, but that experience has ended. You’re still suffering.”

Jongyul refused to speak, though his face seemed to be getting more crimson by the minute. His palms became fists, and he’d let go of Ruby’s hand (much to his dismay).

“And…  _ the lovers _ . In your past, you met someone that you had great harmony with. They helped you see a lot of purpose in life, and showed you ways to think about the world that you had never considered before. You had raw honesty with this person, maybe voluntary or maybe accidental. You and this person were a dual force of power against a mutual threat, and… look, I know you can’t see me, but this is the part where you can smile, yeah? This was a good thing.”

“ _ Was _ ,” Jongyul practically spit at her, pushing himself into a standing position. “I’m not going to sit here and be psychoanalyzed by someone who is in kahoots with  _ him _ . When did he tell you all about me? Was it after slinging me between the sheets like a ragdoll? Or was it after dragging the sharp end of a feather down my arms because he thought the blood was pretty? Huh?  _ When _ ?!”

“Jongyul, please! Relax!” Ruby pleaded, gently wrapping his arms around his waist. He looked like he was about to leap over the table and strangle his sister to death. Speaking of which, Guinevere looked shocked, and perplexed. She threw her hands up in surrender. 

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, but you obviously need to take a chill pill. I didn’t even know your name before Ruby told me. I didn’t know you were  _ blind _ , that’s how little I knew about you! I know the cards can be unsettling to newcomers, but I promise that if you calm down and stay for the present cards, you’ll get valuable insight into the future and what you can do to get rid of the baggage weighing you down.”

Jongyul looked like he was on his last nerve. He was about to start pacing around the tent like a caged animal, but when he turned to look down at Ruby, with his big, blue eyes and freckles like constellations, he sighed and draped himself back over his chair. 

“Fine. Just… please. Don’t go so in depth.”

Guinevere flipped the three cards for Jongyul’s present. “ _ Six of cups,  _ reversed,  _ the hermit,  _ and  _ seven of wands _ . The cups would usually carry positive connotations— maybe happy revisiting of the past, childish wonder and youth when you think about your memories… but this gives me the impression that you’re stuck in the past. It kind of makes sense when you take into account the past cards. You’re reliving your trauma every moment of your life instead of letting go. Maybe you can’t…” she began to trail off, but noticed the warning glare Jongyul was sending her way, “... never mind.  _ The hermit _ tells me that you need to be alone. I know Ruby’s pretty great company or whatever, but you need to stay away from people for a good while and do some introspection. You tend to stray on your own already, I can tell, but without deeper thinking about what has happened to you and what you can do about it. You need to do some serious soul-searching and find that, sometimes, the person you can depend on the most is yourself. Take a break, and find your own truth.”

Ruby looked at Jongyul, now. His face had softened to a degree that no one could notice but him. He looked like he  _ was  _ thinking, mulling Guinevere’s words over.

“ _ Seven of wands _ . Almost done, big guy. You’ve been caught off-guard by your circumstances. You came from suffering, but somehow you’ve stumbled into a life that should surround you with riches. At the snap of your fingers, you could achieve anything— but it feels empty. It feels undeserved, like you’ve been caught right as you’re waking up and you’re wearing mismatched socks. You’ve persevered this long, but how? Think on how you’ve survived and flourished this long, and elevate that mindset into the future. Struggles will never fully disappear, but they can shrink when you figure out a better way to deal with them.”

The room was silent for around ten minutes. Not even Ruby could muster up any words. Eventually, Jongyul stood once more. He politely bowed to Guinevere, almost folding in half, before turning to the boy beside him.

“Are you ready to leave?”

Ruby blinked a couple of times. He started to stammer in confusion, eyes darting between his sister and the love of his life. “W-What— just like that? You’re… Are you not still mad?”

“No, let’s just… let’s just go.” His voice was back to the way it had been before they entered the tent, calm and sweet… careful to remain neutral. “A latte sounds good, right now.”

Ruby settled for that, waving to his sibling with a heavy sigh. Guinevere looked right back at him with another little smirk, kicking her feet up on the table and leaning back with her arms behind her head. 

A truly intriguing sight, indeed, watching the seraph lead Ruby out, as if he had already meticulously mentally mapped out their surroundings. He had been going blind for a while, she could tell.

While they were walking back to Ruby’s car in a nearby parking lot, he started fiddling with his fingers, still burning from Jongyul’s delicate touch. “... You know I wouldn’t tell, right?  _ Anyone _ , I wouldn’t tell anyone about…”

He sighed in response, reaching out to interlace their fingers once more. Now, Ruby was leading the way, and Jongyul was gazing at the floor. He looked… wistful. “You can say it. My fall from Heaven. I know that you wouldn’t, and I knew it back in the tent. I believe I just panicked when she practically pulled that knowledge out of my memory. It felt like she… plucked feathers right out of my back. I’m sorry for shouting.”

Ruby’s eyes trailed to the back of Jongyul’s shirt. His lithe back muscles were rippling while he walked, but he knew what they looked like beneath the cotton fabric. 

Aside from a plethora of small cuts and bruises that seemed to fill in more with every passing sunrise, two long slashes coated the space between his shoulder blades. More times than not, Ruby had trailed his fingertips faintly over the bleach-white scar tissue, uneven and lifted from his normally perfect skin. He was left breathless when Jongyul mumbled that small “good morning”, and rolled over in bed so he could face the ceiling instead of his pillows.

“It’s okay,” he whispered, and smiled at him even if he couldn’t see it. “What kind of latte did you want?”

“Kind? There’s different kinds?” Their chattering voices trailed off as they left the forest.


End file.
